1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a case construction of a memory apparatus. More specifically, this invention relates to a case construction of a recording medium using a portable recording medium, such as an optical disk drive that is built into, or is mounted, from the outside on, a personal computer, a work station, and so forth.
2. Description of the Related Art
As office automation (OA) has spread widely in recent years, the size of OA appliances and their production cost have been reduced. Optical disk drives are used nowadays as external memory apparatuses for computers in place of magnetic disk drives. The optical disk drives, too, must be small in size and light in weight, and must be produced at a low cost. In the memory apparatuses such as the optical disk drives, their components must be reduced and/or integrated together, and must have high heat-radiation performance.
The memory apparatus according to the prior art, such as an optical disk drive, includes a bathtub-shaped metallic inner case accommodating therein a disk drive, a power source unit, an electric fan unit, etc, a top cover formed of a metallic flat sheet and disposed in such a manner as to cover the top opening of the inner case, a front bezel fitted to the front surface of the inner case and an outer case covering the inner case and the top cover. A separator formed of a sheet metal is interposed between a region in which the disk drive is accommodated and a region in which the power source unit is disposed, inside the inner case.
An optical disk loading port, an air hole for sucking external air into the memory apparatus, an eject switch of the optical disk and a busy lamp showing that the optical disk is in operation are provided on the front bezel. The air sucked from the air hole into the memory apparatus is discharged from an exhaust port by the electric fan unit and restricts the temperature rise of the disk drive and the power source unit. The disk drive is fitted to a bracket disposed on the bottom of the inner case through a frame.
However, the memory apparatus according to the prior art involves the following problems.
(1) A separator for separating the disk drive from the power source unit needs be disposed inside the case so as to satisfy safety standards. This separator results in the increase in the transverse width of the memory apparatus.
(2) The eject switch of the optical disk and the busy lamp are disposed separately by means such as caulking, bonding, and so forth. Therefore, the number of components is large, and the assembly work is troublesome and complicated.
(3) The disk drive is first fitted to the holder and is then fastened to the bottom of the inner case by screws. Therefore, the number of man-hours for the assembly work is large and the number of components is large.
(4) The separator is formed of a sheet metal, and welding is employed when the separator is fitted to the inner frame. Therefore, the number of man-hours for fitting the separator is large.
(5) The electric fan unit is used for dissipating the heat. Therefore, the number of components is large. Since wiring of cables is necessary, the size of the case becomes large.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a memory apparatus having a case construction that can solve the problems of the memory apparatuses according to the prior art, can reduce the size, the weight and the cost of production of the memory apparatus by decreasing the number of components while a counter-measure against heat is disposed inside the case.
To accomplish the object described above, the present invention provides a memory apparatus, using a portable recording medium, which memory apparatus comprises an outer case comprising an upper outer case and a lower outer case; a drive device for driving a recording medium; an inner case comprising an inner bottom case fitted onto the lower outer case and a top cover covering the upper part of the inner bottom case; a power source unit disposed inside the inner bottom case; and a holder for fitting the drive device to the inner bottom case; wherein a separator interposed as a safety component between the power source unit and the drive device is formed by extending upward the wall surface of the holder on the side of the power source unit.
According to the present invention, the holder for fitting the drive device to the lower outer case is provided with the separator function. Therefore, the separator can be omitted, and the width of the recording device can be reduced as the number of components is thus decreased.
In the present invention, a leaf spring is disposed on the support surface of the holder for holding the drive device, and the drive device is held by the holder through this leaf spring. In order to allow a part of the holder to function as a heat sink, the distal end portion of the wall surface of the holder that functions as the separator can be extended in such a manner as to cover the upper portion of the power source unit.
According to this arrangement, a space can be defined between the holder and the drive device, and the holder is extended toward the power source unit, increasing thereby the holder area. In consequence, the holder can be provided with the function of the heat sink, and heat radiation performance can be achieved.
In the present invention, a hook is disposed at a predetermined position of the lower outer case and a male anchor member is disposed at a position spaced apart by a predetermined distance from this hook. In the inner bottom case, on the other hand, an anchor hole is disposed at a position corresponding to the hook and a female anchor member is disposed at a position corresponding to the male anchor member. While the anchor hole of the inner bottom case is anchored to the hook of the lower outer case, the female anchor member of the inner bottom case is engaged with the male anchor member of the lower outer case so that the inner bottom case can be fitted to the lower outer case.
According to this arrangement, the inner bottom case accommodating therein the disk drive can be fitted to the lower outer case without using any screw, and the number of man-hours of the fitting work can be reduced.
Furthermore, in a memory apparatus of the type in which a medium eject switch and a busy lamp, that is turned ON during the read/write operation of the medium, are disposed on a circuit substrate of the drive device, while a medium eject mechanism for turning ON/OFF the medium eject switch and a display for displaying the light emitted from the busy lamp that is turned ON are disposed on a front bezel of the outer case, it is possible in the present invention to integrate the display with the medium eject mechanism, to dispose this integral medium eject mechanism on the front panel, and to constitute the medium eject mechanism by a mechanism main body biased toward the front panel by a spring and a transparent light guide member which is assembled into the mechanism main body and one of the ends of which is exposed on the surface side of the mechanism main body and the other end of which opposes the busy lamp and the medium eject switch.
Since the functions of the medium eject switch and the busy lamp can be accomplished by one switch mechanism according to this arrangement, the number of components and the occupying space on the front panel can be reduced.
When a swing door is provided to a recording medium loading port of the front panel of the outer case in the memory apparatus having the construction described above, a water guide path for discharging a liquid, that enters from the loading port, to both sides of the door can be provided on the back side of the swing door. At this time, another water guide path for guiding the liquid flowing out from the water guide path can be provided below both end portions of the water guide path of the swing door inside the outer case.
In this construction, when the liquid overflows to the outer case of the memory apparatus and enters the inside from the swing door of the loading port for the recording medium, the liquid flows to both sides of the swing door and is discharged. Therefore, invasion of the liquid into the memory apparatus can be prevented.
Furthermore, grooves for generating the flow of air inside the outer case can be formed round the outer periphery of the rotary portion of a spindle motor for rotating the recording medium loaded into the drive device.
According to this arrangement, the spindle motor functions as a substitute for the fan, and the electric fan unit becomes unnecessary. Therefore, the size, the weight, the number of components and the cost of production of the memory apparatus can be reduced.